Aslan on Iran

Reza Aslan, Iranian-American professor at the University of California Santa Barbara and articulate commentator about the current crisis, was on Jon Stewart's Daily Show last night.

Aslan says this movement is no longer about the election; it's about the future of the Iranian Republic, and it will continue as a struggle to change the current status quo. When it's over, it could be better or it could be worse.

He thinks that it will either become more militaristic and isolationist or it could remain Islamist but open up more to the outside world and become more democratic. He sums it up thus: it will become either like North Korea or like China. Clearly, he prefers and hopes for the latter.

He also was asked about the proper stance for the U.S. in this matter. His response: "Thank God for President Obama." He says Obama has taken exactly the right stance; the quickest way to destroy this movement would be to follow what Bill Bennett and John McCain want us to do, which is the usual kind of arrogant posturing and self-indulgent attempt to inject ourselves into the internal affairs of other nations.

Ralph